Trail Runner is Bolder, Deeper, and Weirder Than Ever

Editor’s Note: Our sister publication Trail Runner just got a refresh. You can check it out at www.trailrunnermag.com.

Dear fellow dirt lovers,

Recently, while slipping down the loose, steep washes of Southern California, I’ve spotted an uptick of trail runners on routes I once considered “mountain-goat-level only.” And I’ve also seen big, rowdy clubs at local trail races that had been simple, silent, and somewhat stoic affairs just years before.

You may have noticed this, too. If you’ve been following our trail running coverage over the years, you probably know: There’s a gravitational pull to the trails happening on a global level. Runners want to keep going when the road ends.

It’s something that I haven’t seen in the almost three decades since I laced up my first pair of trail shoes for cross-country practice. (They were Adidas Response Trails, well before the weird “Terrex” modifier was even a glimmer in a young marketer’s eye.)

In fact, that nervous freshman energy and the excitement of trails still unknown is exactly the feeling I’m getting from what’s going on at Trail Runner.

As the sport expands around us, Trail Runner is rising to meet the moment with an improved version that is bolder, louder, deeper, and weirder than before.

Leading that charge will be a familiar voice to many of you, Abby Levene. Formerly the senior editor of Outside Run (where you’ll still find plenty of great road-running content), Abby is stepping into a new role as the managing editor of Trail Runner.

A former NCAA DI runner (Princeton for undergrad, and CU Boulder while pursuing her graduate degree in journalism), she’s lived more than a few lives as an endurance athlete. Abby is also clever, irreverent, passionate, and sometimes a little weird. She’s just as likely to use the word Bourdieusian to describe today’s high-carb fueling trend as she is to ask: “If there were no kudos, how many people would still run?”

She has an inherent love for running on dirt, and she is the perfect person to steer a funky ship of like-minded editors, contributors, artists, and unique personalities across the open seas of the off-road running trailscape.

You can still count on the same dirt-on-the-lens, sand-in-our-teeth, because-we’re-actually-there coverage you’ve come to expect from the 27-year-old Trail Runner title. We will still bring you the same actual-reporter-talking-to-sources-journalism that matters and makes AI look, well, like a busted Game Boy.

This week, our team is headed to Palisades Tahoe to cover the pinnacle of American trail running with the Broken Arrow/Western States 100 double-header. You can also enjoy pre-race profiles on some of the world’s greatest trail runners (whom we rarely hear from), including former camel guide Elhousine Elazzaoui and noodle-slurping queen Fuzhao Xiang.

You can also find Andy Cochrane’s piece on how wildfire is reshaping trail running in the U.S., as well as a photo essay on getting off the paved paths of New York City.

From there, we’ll continue to bring you rich storytelling and original photography from the trails, your communities, and far-flung corners of the earth.

On the one hand, you’ll find hard-hitting journalism that asks tough questions and delivers brutally honest gear reviews. On the other, you’ll find poems, doodles, and cartoons that reflect the irreverence we love so much about a sport that’s really a lifestyle.

You’ll also find training plans, scientific articles, and expert advice to help you hone your craft, presented in a way that’s just fun enough to enjoy, even if you have no aspirations of earning a lottery ticket into Western States or running around Mont Blanc (yet!).

Be sure to subscribe to Abby’s own dedicated (and slightly unhinged) newsletter, but until you do, naturally, she says it better than I can:

“Some of our stories will be serious, some will be silly. Together, I hope they remind us that two things can be true at once: Running can matter a whole lot, and it’s ultimately a completely absurd way to spend so much time.”

Welcome,

Chris Foster
Editorial Director of Endurance, Outside Inc.